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A top Navalny aide, Leonid Volkov, said lawyers were notified “all of a sudden” on January 26 that the appeal of the arrest was scheduled for January 28.
Despite a violent crackdown on unsanctioned weekend rallies against Navalny’s jailing and government corruption, Volkov is calling for new protests across Russia on January 31.
“We need to continue our street activity. We have come up with new places and formats,” he said on Navalny’s website.
www.navalny.com
The searches that took place on January 27 involved groups of masked security forces who barged into buildings across Moscow, including Navalny’s apartment, where police detained his brother, Oleg, and a rented apartment where Navalny’s wife, Yulia, has been living.
It also included offices of his Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and the Navalny Live studio that produces videos and broadcasts revealing corruption at all levels of government.
Russian media, citing a source in the security agencies, reported that the reason given for the raids was violations of coronavirus hygiene restrictions.
The Navalny Live team said on Twitter the searches were illegal and were designed to intimidate.
“But on January 31, all of Russia will take to the streets again,” the team said.
Navalny, 44, was arrested on January 17 upon returning to Russia from Germany, where he had been recovering from a near-fatal poisoning by a military-grade nerve agent in August that he says Putin ordered.
A court later extended his detention for 30 days to allow for a different court to decide in early February on converting a suspended 3 1/2 year sentence into real jail time in relation to an embezzlement case that is widely considered trumped up and politically motivated.
Mass rallies across Russia held on January 23 demanded Navalny’s immediate release. Close to 4,000 people were arrested during the rallies, which police said were illegal.
Navalny’s poisoning with a Soviet-style Novichok nerve agent, his detention, and the sometimes violent crackdown on the protesters has sparked outrage among many western countries.
U.S. President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin in a January 26 phone call that Washington was concerned about Navalny’s arrest, while EU foreign ministers on January 25 agreed to wait to see if Navalny is released before deciding to impose fresh sanctions on Russia.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on January 27 said the United States has not ruled out any specific actions the United States might take in response to Navalny’s detention.
“We have a deep concern for Mr. Navalny’s safety and security and the larger point is that his voice is the voice of many, many, many Russians and it should be heard, not muzzled,” said Blinken.
The foreign ministers of the G7 also criticized the jailing of Navalny and the detention of demonstrators demanding his release.
“We are…deeply concerned by the detention of thousands of peaceful protesters and journalists, and call upon Russia to adhere to its national and international obligations and release those detained arbitrarily for exercising their right of peaceful assembly,” the group of some of the world’s richest nations said in a statement.
Moscow rebuffed the global criticism and accused the West of “gross interference” in Russia’s domestic affairs.
“The actions linked to so-called “poisoning” of Navalny turned to the peak of unfriendly steps that threw into question the possibility of building of the further cooperation with European Union itself,” a government statement said.
With reporting by TASS, Reuters, dpa, and Interfax
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